


Knitting Hats for Puppies

by ArielSakura



Series: Christmas Fluff [26]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Kisses, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hot Chocolate, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 21:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21955255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArielSakura/pseuds/ArielSakura
Summary: Even while staying at the Burrow in the lead up to Christmas, Harry can't sleep. Every night he gets up to make hot chocolate, and every night Bill joins him.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Bill Weasley
Series: Christmas Fluff [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1225067
Comments: 28
Kudos: 790
Collections: 12 Days of Christmas, Harryivsetakoe





	Knitting Hats for Puppies

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the amazing noxsoulmate for her alphaing and support with this ficlet!! And also for the phrase that became the title for this story and which has spawned many ideas for a series!!
> 
> This story is Day 11 of the Word Orgy "12 Days of Christmas Challenge" and the prompt was: Hot Chocolate

Having woken in a sweat at the Burrow, Harry did his best to not disturb Ron as he quietly slipped out of the room. After a stop at the bathroom to splash water on his face, he made his way downstairs. Though the war had been over for months now, his nightmares had yet to abate. He moved into the kitchen, quietly passing the lounge where the Christmas tree glittered merrily, and set about making some hot chocolate. He was in the process of prodding the stove to light with his wand when a soft voice interrupted him. 

“Can’t sleep either?” 

Harry spun around, ready to cast a spell in defence - only to see Bill standing there, hands up in surrender. 

“Sorry,” Harry said sheepishly, lowering his wand and turning back to the stove. 

“It’s alright, I should have made some noise, scuffed my foot, coughed,” Bill joked and Harry heard him approaching. “What are you making?” 

Harry glanced at Bill, who was leaning against the counter next to him and peering curiously at what he was doing. 

“Hot chocolate, want some?”

Bill watched as Harry added half a block of chocolate to the pan, his eyes alight with want, “Oh yeah. Definitely.” 

Harry snorted softly at his enthusiastic answer and added enough milk to make two cups. Adding a few extra ingredients as Bill watched him quietly, Harry stirred the mixture, whipping it briefly to make a little froth, before he summoned two mugs to pour the drink into and added some marshmallows. 

Quickly he cleaned up and Bill grabbed the mugs, despite Harry’s protest and brought them to the table, seating himself on the corner and placing Harry’s mug next to him at the head of the table. Taking the seat, Harry picked up his mug and took a long sip, humming with pleasure at the taste. 

Bill followed suit and Harry grinned when he groaned out loud. 

“Merlin, that’s good hot chocolate,” Bill said. 

“Thanks.”

“Seriously, it’s the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, marry me?”

Harry snorted and gently kicked Bill under the table. 

“Righto.” 

Bill just grinned back at him. They sat quietly for a while, gently sipping on their warm drinks. 

“So why can’t you sleep?” Bill asked eventually. 

Harry shrugged and looked down into his mug. The marshmallows were half-melted and had started to leave little lines on the surface of the chocolate. 

“Just bad dreams. You?”

“Light sleeper,” Bill said, inclining his head toward the small hallway that led toward the few rooms on the ground floor. Harry remembered now that Bill’s room was directly beneath the stairs and he winced. 

“Sorry.” 

“Don’t be, I’m used to being up early anyway. Want to talk about them?”

Harry looked up into Bill’s face. The scars Greyback had left him with were almost hidden by the shadows the room cast. The muted warmth in the room and ambient quality of the light made Harry feel a little disconnected from the world. Like he could say anything at all and it wouldn’t impact the real world. He met Bill’s eyes and saw an understanding there, and a willingness to listen. Harry chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before deciding to give it a shot. 

“Nothing. Everything. Sometimes I’m back in the tent with Ron and Hermione, except they both leave and never come back. Sometimes it’s Quirrell, telling me I failed; mocking me about how could I possibly think it was over; that Voldemort went further than anyone and I didn’t find them all. Sometimes, your Dad wasn’t there in time and the wall crushed Fred, or your Mum didn’t best Bellatrix. Sometimes I’m walking into the Great Hall and just, everyone in there is dead now.” 

Harry took another sip of his hot chocolate and set the mug heavily on the table. 

“And then sometimes they’re just unsettling, like tonight, I stayed with Dumbledore and got on the train.”

He could tell some of his statements puzzled Bill, but he said nothing. Instead, he reached forward and gripped Harry’s hand and although they sat in silence as the sun rose, for the first time in a while Harry didn’t feel quite so alone. 

  
  


⚜  _ Harry&Bill _ ⚜

Their routine continued, though Harry tried very hard not to wake Bill, even going so far as to cast a silencing charm on the stairs once - to no avail. He gave up after the third night, and just began to enjoy Bill’s company instead. 

“You going to go to the World Cup again this year?” Bill asked. 

Harry nodded, “Yeah, erm,” he looked reflexively toward the living room where the Christmas tree stood, and his ticket sized presents for everyone sat. “Viktor’s playing again. We were going to catch up after. Haven’t seen him much since the tournament.” 

Bill nodded, “I remember Fleur saying you lot grew close.” 

“Hard not to. She uh, mentioned she was seeing you at one point?” He watched as Bill shrugged. 

“We went out a few times, but nothing really clicked. Then You-Know-Who came back and she went back to France. We didn’t reconnect.” 

Harry hummed in understanding. 

“What about you? No girlfriends for the ‘Chosen One’?” Bill teased as he took another sip of his cooling hot chocolate. 

Snorting, Harry shook his head, “Nope.” 

“Oh?” Bill asked, cocking his head to the side as he stared at Harry, eyes calculating before a slow smirk spread across his face.

Harry shifted nervously in his seat under Bill's suddenly knowing gaze. 

"No  _ boyfriends _ for the 'Man-Who-Conquered'?" 

Harry pulled a face, "Urgh, stop. Do you really have to quote that awful Prophet?. And… no. Alright? No-one, girl  _ or _ boy, wants  _ Harry. _ "

Bill hummed thoughtfully but moved the conversation onto other topics.

⚜  _ Harry&Bill _ ⚜

They had just sat down with their hot chocolate the next night when Harry asked Bill," So what's Egypt like?" 

"Hot." 

Harry snorted, "Well I figured that much out for myself, thanks."

"It's pretty amazing actually," Bill said more seriously, though a smile still played at his lips. "The crew I worked with were great, I made a lot of cool friends. And getting to be the one who saw the tombs for the first time in thousands of years? That was definitely an awe-inspiring feeling.”

Harry smiled, “It does sound cool, when do you go back?”

Bill shook his head, “I’m not. My contractual obligation to Gringotts is over and I’m actually about to start the process to set myself up as a freelance curse-breaker.”

“Huh, that’s cool, so you’re staying in England, then?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, I’m staying in England,” Bill said, a smile curving across his lips.

Silence stretched between them for a moment, nothing awkward or uncomfortable, just the quiet of two people enjoying their time together slowly sipping hot chocolate. 

“So what do you plan on doing now, then?” Bill asked eventually, bringing the topic back to Harry.

Harry made a face as he sipped his warm drink. 

“I had planned on becoming an Auror, but I really don’t think I want to be.”

“Oh?”

Harry lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, “Yeah, I dunno, I just… kinda had enough of danger, you know? Plus,” he said, deliberately making his tone light, “Kingsley said there’s a  _ lot _ of paperwork.” 

Bill snorted, “I imagine there would be.” 

They were quiet for a moment before Bill spoke again.

“You know, I always found it hard to believe that’s what you wanted to do.”

Harry looked up at him, startled, “Why? I mean, everyone expected me to-”

Bill shrugged, “I dunno, you just always seemed so resigned to the idea, but you were never excited by it.” 

Harry hummed as he thought about what Bill said. He supposed it was true, he had never been excited by the prospect of becoming an Auror like Ron had. Or like Hermione was about making changes in the Ministry. Or like the twins were when they opened their shop. 

“What did you think I’d do?” he asked curiously.

Bill grinned at him, “Honestly? I thought you would open some animal sanctuary and knit hats for puppies or something similar.” 

Harry was so startled by the inherent truth of Bill’s statement, so surprised he had been able to see Harry’s secret desire, that the latter half of his comment caught him entirely by surprise and he began to laugh. 

“ _ Knit hats for puppies? _ ” he managed to gasp out.

Bill just grinned at him from around his mug. 

Harry managed to regain some measure of control and straightened himself from where he had slipped in his seat. He took another comforting sip from his hot chocolate and hesitantly asked his next question.

“Why did you think that?” 

Bill looked down thoughtfully and drew his finger around the rim of his mug, cleaning it of bits of cocoa powder. 

“When you were showing mum and I around Hogwarts before the third task, you were so focused on anything that had to do with creatures. You remembered more clearly anything to do with some animal or another, than your classes or even times spent with friends. A cat you saved from a tree. All the places you had found Longbottom’s toad. The place you had encountered a runespoor and the place in the forest you had taken it back too. It just seemed to fit. You’re a really caring person and you just seem to have a knack for finding injured or abandoned animals and taking care of them. More so than even Charlie. Even at the World Cup, you found someone’s Crup and you made Dad help you find its owner.”

Harry sat there, stunned. He had never heard that description of his character before. Hermione had only ever used his compassion for animals as further examples for her accusation of his  _ saving-people-thing _ . Ron would roll his eyes whenever Harry spotted some animal in distress though he would always go along with him. 

Glancing down at his hands, Harry chewed his lip thoughtfully before opening up just a little more to Bill. “When I was young, I always used to dream of running a shelter. Somewhere where animals could go to be safe. My cousin... “ Harry paused for a moment, frowning.

He hadn’t actually told this to someone before. He glanced up at Bill, only to see him waiting patiently, his face open but not expectant. Harry wrapped his hand a little tighter around the mug of hot chocolate and embraced this safe haven he and Bill had created here. 

“He and his friends… they used to find animals in our neighbourhood. Throw rocks at them, hit them with sticks. Piers… one of Dudley’s best mates, actually put a sack of kittens in the middle of a busy road. I saved them. It was actually one of the times I used accidental magic though I didn’t know it then. One minute I was terrified as this red truck came speeding towards them and the next the bag flew into my hands. I walked for over an hour to the nearest animal shelter, praying they would make it. They were so tiny and my Aunt and Uncle wouldn’t have let me keep them. 

The woman who ran the place… She was so lovely. So nice. She let me stay all day to help out before she drove me home. I helped her look after all sorts of animals. Old dogs, young dogs, an iguana. Mice, cats and kittens. She even had ferrets. And they all needed a home. Someone to care for them and love them. I saw two animals get adopted that day and they were so  _ happy _ to be loved. That’s when I decided I wanted to do that someday. To help, to make a difference. To be  _ kind. _ ”

Harry drained the last of his drink. 

“I guess, I just kind of forgot with,” he waved a hand, “well, everything.”

Bill hummed in reply, “Well, now that you’ve remembered, what are you going to do?”

Harry grinned as he met Bill’s eye.

“I think I might knit hats for puppies.”

⚜  _ Harry&Bill _ ⚜

Harry walked out of the kitchen holding their mugs to see Bill standing at the window. 

“What’s so interesting out there, then?” Harry asked cheekily. 

Bill turned to smile at him, “It’s snowing.” 

“Really?” Harry asked, quickly setting down their drinks and hurrying to the window. “It’s snowing?”

He stood next to Bill and pressed his nose to the glass, a smile spreading across his face as he watched the fluffy white flakes falling by the light of the full moon. 

The backyard was transformed into a white landscape, untouched by anything as the snow blanketed everything. 

“You like the snow?” Bill asked.

Harry nodded in reply, “There’s just something very… freeing about it. As if...” he trailed off with a shrug.

“As if the possibilities are endless?” Bill ventured quietly.

Harry looked up at him, meeting Bill’s eyes and his lips quirked into a smile. 

“Yeah, exactly.”

Bill smiled down at him and Harry had to draw in a sharp breath. He hadn’t realised just how close they were standing. Close enough that their arms brushed, close enough that Harry could smell the soap Bill used…

“Come on,” Bill said, gripping Harry’s elbow.

Harry barely had time to form a question in his mind let alone with words when Bill was pulling him toward the back door, his hand slipping down to tangle his fingers with Harry’s. 

“Bill! What’re you  _ doing? _ ” 

Yelping as the cold air struck him, he started laughing as Bill pulled him deeper into the yard, his slippers thankfully magically protecting him from the wet. When they finally came to a halt, he watched as Bill leant down and scooped up a handful of fresh snow. Expecting Bill to fling it at him he was instead surprised to see him cram it into his own mouth. 

Harry laughed again, “What in Merlin’s name?”

Bill glanced up at him, “Have you never eaten fresh snow?”

Harry just shook his head. 

“You have to try it, it’s delicious. Here.” 

Bill leant down again and scooped up another handful. As he straightened, Harry realised Bill still had hold of his hand because he used it to tug Harry closer. Harry stumbled slightly, his other hand coming up to steady himself against Bill’s chest. His eyes darted to the handful of snow Bill held inches from his face and then back up to Bill’s blue eyes.

“Go on then,” Bill said, his voice suddenly rough.

Harry shivered at the sound and he leant forward slowly to take a bite of the frozen water. Even the shock of cold against his tongue couldn’t break their locked gaze as Harry savoured the clean crisp taste. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bill shake the rest of the snow off and hastily wipe his hand on his jumper before he brought it up to Harry’s face.

The backs of his fingers were cold as they lightly trailed over his cheek and Harry shuddered a little at the sensation, tipping his head up as Bill’s hand came to curl around the nape of his neck. His lips parted as he took in the intensity of Bill’s gaze and Harry’s eyelids fluttered closed as he brought his face down to Harry’s. He gasped when Bill’s lips pressed gently against his own and he went up onto the balls of his feet to wrap his free arm around Bill’s neck. Holding on tightly to ground himself. 

Bill brought their joined hands up between them, curling them tightly into his chest as he changed the angle of the kiss and let his tongue sink into Harry’s mouth.

When they eventually pulled away, Harry was panting heavily and his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. He opened his eyes as Bill’s thumb stroked the patch of skin below his ear and he sucked in a shaky breath. 

Before Harry could begin to contemplate what to say, there came the sound of a plaintive cry. His head whipped around to the side, trying to spot the source. 

“Harry?” Bill murmured.

“Shh! Did you hear that?” Harry asked. 

“Hear what?” 

Harry didn’t answer as he listened hard. The sound came again, from beyond the wall of the Weasley’s backyard. 

“That!” Harry disentangled himself from Bill and jogged toward the gate.

He heard the snow crunching behind him and knew Bill was following him. Pausing outside the gate he listened again and followed the pitiful whimpering sounds toward the nearby orchard. Circling a large tree, Harry gasped as he came across two small crup puppies. 

“Bill!”

Harry heard him pick up the pace as he scooped up the two small creatures and turned back the way he came, almost bumping into Bill as he came around the tree. 

“Oh! Sorr-,” Bill cut himself off as he stared down at the two little creatures in Harry’s arms. 

They were currently trying to bury themselves into his chest, chasing his warmth. 

“Come on,” Bill said hurriedly, “We need to get them inside.”

Harry nodded and together they quickly ran back to the Burrow. They sighed deeply as they entered the warmth of the kitchen and Harry quickly used his wand to summon some of his old jumpers, ones he still had from Dudley. He cast warming charms on them and wrapped them around the pups, handing one to Bill as he did so. 

“I need to heat up some milk, get something warm into them,” he said quietly.

He bit down hard on the inside of his lip. This was the worst sort of timing, the longer he ignored what happened between him and Bill - and Merlin did he want that to happen again - the more Bill would think he was rejecting him. But these sweet little pups  _ needed  _ him right now. 

He brought the other crup up to his face and it weakly stretched one paw out of its wrappings, whimpering as it did so. Instantly, he brought it to his body, tucking it into his neck as he moved into the kitchen and rinsed out the pan from the makings of their hot chocolate. He pulled the milk from the cold box and began heating it. Charming the whisk to stir it so he didn’t have to watch it too closely. 

He looked up from his work as Bill walked into the kitchen. 

“Guess you’re going to have to knit those hats sooner rather than later, huh?” he asked. 

Harry laughed softly, “Looks like.”

Silence reigned for a moment.

“Bill…” Harry began. 

But Bill stopped him from saying anything further with a small shake of his head, “Look, I know what you’re going to say. That the kiss was a mistake, I know I’m too old for you, and you don’t want to pursue anything with me, but I don’t regret that it happened.”

Bill tickled his crup under the chin and it tried to playfully bite his finger in retaliation. Harry felt the crup he held lick his neck before snuffling against him. 

Harry frowned at Bill’s words as he took the milk off the stove and poured it into two small bowls. He tested the temperature and then pushed one across the counter to Bill. Holding a bowl to his pup, he watched as it curiously sniffed the mixture before it greedily began to lap it up. Harry chanced a glance to see Bill’s pup was doing much the same though it had freed both front paws and planted them in the milk along with its face. 

It brought a little smile to his lips as he watched. Once they had drunk their fill, Harry indicated for Bill to follow him and they moved to sit in the warm lounge. The combination of full bellies, exhaustion, and warmth had the pups falling asleep before Bill had even sat down on the couch. 

Feeling brave, Harry took the seat right next to him, boldly meeting his eye. 

“Bill, about what you said before...” he said, “I was going to say that I don’t regret it either.”

“Yeah?” Bill asked, a hint of hope in his voice. 

Harry smiled, “Yeah,” he said, a bit of mischief coming into his eyes, “and you’re one hell of a kisser.”

Bill shifted to face Harry as much as he could and leant in, his smile broadening, “Really?”

Harry felt his face begin to burn, “Oh shut up,  _ yes _ .” 

He glanced down at the little crup puppy in his arms and carefully pet across its brow with his finger.

“I was going to say, that if you - you know - wanted to give it a go… Maybe we could… er, you know.”

Thankfully, Bill decided not to torture him over his poor word choice and Harry felt tender fingers tug gently at his chin. He followed their lead and made a small noise of surprise as he met Bill’s lips. This kiss was nothing like the one they had shared outside, it was chaste and close-lipped. But it felt full of promise and hinted at good things to come. 

“Harry,” Bill said as he pulled away, eyes bright and happy, “are you reconsidering my marriage proposal?”

It took Harry a moment, but he soon remembered the first thing Bill had said after tasting his hot chocolate and he laughed. Bill chuckled along with him and the tension broke as they fell back against the couch, trading kisses and small talk as they waited for the pups to wake and for Christmas morning to begin. 

~ fin ~

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all you beautiful people!! 
> 
> Much love and muses!!  
> Love Ariel  
> 😘🎄🎉


End file.
